With the World population topping 7 billion people, most of us will encounter plenty of opportunities to learn effective communication.
Communication represents the combination of an emotional display and conceptual content expressed during a conversation or even in a single sentence. As participants in communication, we choose how we react and share the responsibility for the outcome of our negotiations. Removing the verb ‘to be’ remains essential to communicating perspectives over facts. In this article, I propose some ways we can abstract the territory of communication to help get a foothold on otherwise blind negotiations.
Overview – The Aggression – Negotiation – Intimacy Spectrum
For the purposes of discussion I focus on the Intimacy of Ideas, or how people correspond verbally. The spectrum of behavior seems to extend to physical behavior as well. One can use this simplistic arrangement to form a mile-high view of communications. Social interactions between more than two folks potentially builds complexity as allegiance shifts throughout a conversation, so we’ll focus on two person communication for now.
Two-way communication phases
Fighting – Arguing – Debating – Negotiating – Logistics – Conversing – Flirting
The above labels represent words that describe communications where speaking and listening flow back and forth between individuals, as opposed to one-way communications where one or both participants refuses to listen to some degree. Since we often just don’t hear each other correctly, listening appears as the priority concern over speaking. Unfortunately, as you’ll discover, listening does not get the attention required for successful negotiations.
One-way communication phases
Instructing – Preaching – Story Telling – Scolding – Praising
This article remains under construction. Infographic coming soon.